In 1940-41 the old town of Glenville was uprooted when the Nantahala Power Company built the dam that flooded the town and tributary creeks. The lake was built to provide hydroelectric power for the Alcoa Aluminum Company in East Tennessee. World War II was raging in Europe and electricity was needed by Alcoa to produce aluminum for airplanes.

Map provided courtesy of Carol M. Bryson, author of "Glenville and Cashiers from the Records

At that time Old Glenville was thriving with residents, businesses, churches, small farms, a post office and a school. The settlement stretched over 3 1/2 miles from close to Hurricane Falls to the present day dam. This hand-drawn map shows the actual roads, stores, schools and churches in Hamburg Village from 1827-1940.

The community began with the name Hamburg in the 1830’s when Land Grants were sold by the State of North Carolina. These pioneers made the difficult trek over the mountains to settle and farm the main bottom land and tributaries that formed the West Fork Tuckasegee River. The community grew with the first Post Office opening in 1856. Hamburg Baptist Church was founded in 1849, and the first school opened in 1880 with others to follow.

In 1891 the Postmaster changed the town name from Hamburg to Glenville to avoid confusion with mail, as Hamburg was also the township name. Old Glenville developed with stores, grist mills, blacksmith shops, three churches, and two tourist inns. Although each of the surrounding communities of Big Ridge, Cedar Creek, Norton- Yellow Mountain, and Pine Creek-Salt Rock, had their own small schools and post offices, roads led from each into Glenville for trading. Beginning in the 1920’s the tasty ‘Glenville cabbage’ was grown and marketed nationally and in Europe.

To build the lake Nantahala hired hundreds of workers to remove Glenville homes, buildings and people to clear the lake bed. A generating powerhouse was built north of the dam down the mountain. Some of the displaced residents moved to other communities and towns while others built New Glenville with homes and stores along new NC Highway 107.Today many descendants of people who lived below the lake in Old Glenville and in the surrounding communities still live in the area. Many “summer people” who call Lake Glenville their second home live around the lake now.

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​The group is dedicated to preserving the rich history and heritage of Glenville and Hamburg Township an area that includes neighborhoods from Big Ridge to Yellow Mountain and every locale in between.